Back-to-back writeups?!? I suppose I owe it to everyone after taking so long to do them! Let’s talk about Augustana!
Augustana is one of the classics in the IXC racing lineup: it is a flat, perfectly groomed golf course, with great footing, great weather, great competition (our only NCAA meet this season!), and fast times. Colloquially known as the “Detweiller – equivalent” course in our season, this race gives you everything you need to PR. Unfortunately, it was hot. Really hot. 92 degrees and sunny for crying out loud! On the last day of September! And while normally the fact that the course is a golf course means we run fast today it meant there was no shade. In summary, all I’m saying is that if you ran slower than you were hoping, or you’re confusedly looking at the times knowing what they’ve been in the past, just know this was definitely more of a race where how we competed mattered more than times. AND COMPETE WE DID! Let’s get into it!
Augustana runs the men’s race first, so let’s start with them! The men did a tremendous job in adverse conditions, taking second overall to North Central College, the powerhouse DIII school. First up was our resident marathoner Will Gravelle, who typically runs this meet to sharpen his legs up for the Chicago Marathon the following week. Just because he’s a marathoner doesn’t mean he can’t compete in an 8k though, as he took third overall running 26:51.5! Next was Ethan Forsell, running away from the competition and taking sixth overall with 27:11.7. Our third man today was Percy Moser, who fought his way up to Ethan and was with him at mile 4 and ended up taking eighth place with a 27:16. Coming in fourth for our team was Nolan Enright, running a gritty race after seeing his teammate step off and finishing in 28:12.8! Rounding out our scorers this meet was Easton Rosen, happy to have a stress-free race and finishing in 28:30. What some would consider the most important person in a race, our sixth man today was Simon Hildy running a time of 28:57, stepping up when his teammates were hurting! And to finish off our top 7 was Adam Lupatkin, who ran a 29:26.2, a great time on a day when many people were hurting and putting himself in our top 7 for the first time! Next up was Adam Gorcyca, who fought through (I did the math) 97.5% of the race after rolling his ankle in the first 200 meters, he soldiered through in 29:35.3. Next up was freshman Declen Ahern, making his IXC debut running a very respectable time of 30:02.8. Following closely behind Declen was Leyang Zhang (better known as Hawk!) and Sam Lambert running 30:07.8 and 30:15.7 respectively. The next people through the finish were Aidan Markiewicz and Thomas Harmon, who crossed the line in 30:19.3 and 20:21.6. Both may not have run the times they wanted, but it was a great showing of sophomore teamwork to get through together! In a similar boat was James Stanley, getting through in 31:30.6 after stopping multiple times to relieve some stomach pressure. Next in line to get a respite from the heat at the line was Liam Hoeferlin, running 32:00.4 on a tough day. Following him were Quinn Born and Brendan Graven, who have made a habit now of thugging it out together in the middle miles, finishing within a couple of seconds of one another running 32:24.8 and 32:26.9. Following behind was Lukas Tichota, crossing the line in 33:17.8. Wrapping it up for the men’s side was Gabe Benson, who took the hard road of finishing the race in 40:57.0, even after watching people drop out for the previous 30 minutes!
Next up were the women, who after seeing the men’s race were a little nervous but determined to put their best out there! They ended up taking fourth overall and had many great instances of teamwork in adverse conditions. Maybe they didn’t get their time goals, but they got through it and are stronger because of it. Leading the way was Diane Makovic, running 23:42.9 to secure second place overall! Behind Diane was Claire Casiello with a 25:27.9, competing until the very end and bagging eighth place! Suhani Peramanu was up next, she ran a strong 26:37.2 and got sixteenth place! Following closely behind was Carlin Hass, running 26:42.3 to also secure a top 20 finish. Our social coordinator Bridget Brokaw came across the line in 27:32.4 after dropping the competition over the closing mile! Anna Zlatic was our sixth woman today, running 28:49.9! Freshman Sophia Stierwalt rounded out our top 7 today, running 28:53.8. Behind Sophia was Masumi Nehru, completing the 6-kilometer distance in 29:38.0. Lia Tondeva and Annika Luthe were up next, they ran as a pair to get 30:47.8 and 30:56.7 respectively! Moira McKee got through in 31:24.1! London Maxwell was just behind Moria, completing her first 6k with a 31:58.7! Jennifer Ruiz, 33:12.3! Elizabeth Kokal ran a 33:33.8, a PR by a minute! Reiss Christensen ran her first race this year in 36:16.5! And last but not least was Sophia Bach, who got across the line of her first race in 42:42.4!
Folks let’s face it: the conditions were not ideal. But don’t be discouraged! Temps have dropped and we’ve still got our two most exciting races ahead of us. Catch us at the Arb in two weeks’ time for Regionals!
Results Link!
https://onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=24857